Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-29050

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the potential link between the school building programme and the development of community sports hubs as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy.

Question reference: S3W-29049

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the proportion of young people that ceased participating in sport after leaving school in the last period for which figures are available.

Data on numbers of young people that have ceased to participate in sport after leaving school are not available.

The most recent data (2007-08) on sport participation in the 16-24 year old age group is published in the Scottish Household Survey (Table 13.12):

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/09/01114213/0.

Data is also available for the 16-24 year age group from the People and Sport in Scotland: Results from the Scottish Household Survey Culture and Sport Module 2007 (Table 1):

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/254949/0075513.pdd.

Question reference: S3W-29047

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the prescription drugs budget was for each NHS board in 2009-10.

The setting of primary care prescribing budgets is devolved to NHS boards, who fund this expenditure from their unified budget. The allocations which boards make cover all items dispensed on prescriptions, including drugs and other items such as dressings, appliances and chemical reagents, and these are subject to revision as the year progresses. The current level of the primary care prescribing budget for each NHS board is available from the NHS board concerned.

Question reference: S3W-29045

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the population it estimates the influenza A (H1N1) vaccination priority groups to comprise.

There are approximately 1.3 million people in the phase one priority groups identified for the influenza A (H1N1) vaccination programme. As announced on 19 November, children aged over six months and up to five years of age have also been prioritised to receive the H1N1 vaccination. The estimated population of this group is 260,000. The overall estimated percentage of the population included in the priority groups for vaccination is 27%.

Further consideration is being given to vaccination of carers of elderly or disabled people however an estimated number for this group has not been included in the percentage given above as we have yet to identify exactly how many carers will be offered the vaccine.

Question reference: S3W-29046

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it still plans to vaccinate the whole population against influenza A (H1N1) and, if so, whether there is a target date for achieving this.

As announced on 19 November, the influenza A (H1N1) vaccination programme will be extended to offer vaccination to all children over six months and up to five years of age.

Further consideration is also being given to vaccination of carers of elderly or disabled people however an estimated number for this group has not been included in the percentage noted above.

Enough vaccine has been procured to protect 100% of the Scottish population if required. Discussions will take place over the coming weeks about future phases of the vaccination programme and will take into account the latest scientific advice, epidemiology, evidence and modelling predictions about the development of the pandemic.

Question reference: S3W-28362

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that pressure on NHS boards and local authorities to achieve the zero delayed discharge target causes more people to be placed in care homes rather than in non-institutional services and limits options for allocating funds to community alternatives and, if so, how this issue can be addressed.

Individual patients should be placed in the most appropriate setting. Ideally people will be able to return to their own homes. People should only be placed in a care home if that is what their needs demand.

Local authorities throughout Scotland have joined with NHS partners to form a Community Care Benchmarking Network, using the Community Care Outcomes Framework to monitor and improve performance. The framework offers a rounded suite of measures and it is recognised that performance needs to be balanced across these. Both delayed discharge and balance of care measures form part of the framework, ensuring that narrow solutions to delayed discharge such as relying entirely on care home provision are balanced with the need to ensure people continue to live in their own home for as long as they wish.

The Social Work Inspection Agency inspect services and report on the balance between home care and residential care in each local authority area.

Sustaining the zero standard on delayed discharges should have no impact on where someone is placed.

Question reference: S3W-28361

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the NHS Information Services Division July 2009 census on delayed discharges, what consideration it has given to addressing the causes of delays identified in the census, including lack of available care home places and pressures in meeting costs of such placements.

The Scottish Government''s aim is to enable people to stay at home or in a homely setting, with maximum independence, for as long as possible.

We are undertaking a major review of care of older people, including care home provision and the financial implications. We will engage with Parliament, the professions, providers and society to agree a way forward that is sufficiently radical to meet the changing needs of Scotland''s population.

The Joint Improvement Team is available to help partnerships address the causes of delayed discharge and to help redesign services as required.

Question reference: S3W-28357

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the NHS Information Services Division census on delayed discharges, showing 55 delayed discharges of more than six weeks as at July 2009, how much funding is given to NHS boards and local authorities to help them meet the target to reduce such discharges to zero.

Question reference: S3W-28544

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 30 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals aged (a) under 50 and (b) 50 and over have suffered a fragility fracture in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

There is no specific definition for the term fragility fracture. In general, it is a fracture that occurs through minimal trauma in bone that is pathologically impaired. The vast majority of such fractures will relate to osteoporosis although a small proportion will relate to malignant disease and other bone pathologies.

The latest available information on the numbers of patients aged (a) under 50 years and (b) 50 years and older admitted to acute hospitals in NHSScotland diagnosed with both fractures and osteoporosis are shown in table 1 and table 2.

It should be noted that some of these fractures may relate to trauma.

A small proportion of patients may receive their treatment entirely within Accident and Emergency departments. Information on diagnosis is not collected centrally for such cases and is, therefore, not included in the following figures.

Table 1: Numbers of Patients Aged Under 50 Years Admitted to Acute Hospitals in NHSScotland Diagnosed with both Fractures and Osteoporosis, by Health Board of Residence; Financial Years 2004-05 to 2008-09

	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Ayrshire and Arran	42	36	31	24	15
Borders	3	3	3	2	2
Dumfries and Galloway	19	9	6	10	8
Fife	25	16	35	18	19
Forth Valley	6	6	7	5	10
Grampian	23	29	34	13	24
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	90	71	71	71	73
Highland	14	18	18	21	28
Lanarkshire	18	17	24	24	23
Lothian	34	36	36	43	41
Orkney Islands	2	4	3	4	2
Shetland Islands	1	1	2	1	1
Tayside	19	21	16	15	9
Western Isles	1	1	0	0	3
All Scotland	297	268	286	251	258

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01), Ref: IR2009-02634

Table 2: Numbers of Patients Aged 50 Years and Older Admitted to Acute Hospitals in NHSScotland Diagnosed with both Fractures and Osteoporosis, by Health Board of Residence; Financial Years 2004-05 to 2008-09

	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Ayrshire and Arran	629	582	558	360	382
Borders	120	119	145	168	168
Dumfries and Galloway	286	296	230	263	261
Fife	490	501	608	582	626
Forth Valley	148	125	96	123	90
Grampian	641	817	810	611	613
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	2,017	2,014	1,850	1,941	2,050
Highland	437	467	501	537	572
Lanarkshire	359	378	381	378	367
Lothian	840	974	994	990	952
Orkney Islands	37	27	28	41	44
Shetland Islands	13	30	41	22	20
Tayside	331	311	389	475	469
Western Isles	10	32	31	29	24
All Scotland	6,358	6,673	6,662	6,520	6,638

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01), Ref: IR2009-02634.

Question reference: S3W-28359

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of the NHS Information Services Division census on delayed discharges, what action it is taking to help the 13 local authorities that, in July 2009 had, patients whose discharge was delayed for more than six weeks, to meet the target to reduce such discharges to zero.